"The whole bar is gone. It’s been shoved up by the storm surge into the side of the fence of the neighbouring businesses.

"They tried to board up with ply wood but the winds blew through it. Inside the restaurant, it shoved everything up against the western wall of this place. Your heart just breaks."

Weir said Irma had shaken him "unlike anything he'd seen in 25 years."

Hurricane Irma, the strongest ever Atlantic Ocean hurricane on record, left a terrifying path of destruction behind it as it moved across the Caribbean and towards the United States, killing at least 22 and injuring hundreds more.

At least three people have died in the Florida Keys archipelago due to the storm.

Around 6.5 million people, about a third of the state's population, had been ordered to evacuate southern Florida. Residents fled to shelters, hotels or relatives in safer areas.

Irma has now been downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane but surge warnings remain in effect.

NOAA said: "Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 85 mph (135 km/h) with higher gusts. Additional weakening is forecast, and Irma is expected to become a tropical storm over far northern Florida or southern Georgia later today."

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Hurricane Irma Update - Latest forecast show the storm will move to Georgia

The latest National Hurricane Centre (NHT) 5am update said Irma will "continue to bring life-threatening winds" to a large part of Florida.

They said: "Significant river flooding is likely over the next five days in the Florida peninsula and southern Georgia, where average rainfalls totals of 8 to 15 inches are expected.

"Wind hazards from Irma will continue to spread northward through Georgia and into portions of Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina."

Storm surge warnings were discontinued for the Florida Keys and the southern Florida coast.